Fantastic Grilled Chicken Bacon Dinner at No. 1 Bisztro in Debrecen, Hungary

Thereâ€™s been so many jokes passed about Hungary. Huh, what do you mean hungry. Are you hungry? Yeah right, that is what I mean, hehe.

Speaking of being hungry and duly fed with an appetising and filling fare, I am reminded of my lovely dinner at No. 1 Bisztro Restaurant on Piac Utca. The restaurant was quite full when I walked in, which is also the reason why I chose it in the first place. If a restaurant is full, especially in a small city such as Debrecen, then the restaurant must be doing good.

Normally you pair chicken with white wine, but I was craving for red wine, thus so be it.

Although the outdoor terrace looks very inviting, I decided to sit inside. The temperatures dropped and I only have a light jacket on. While going through the menu I did some light conversation with the waiter attending to me. I always ask the waiters what they recommend in terms of local and house specialties. They know best. He pointed out to me a heavy local meat dish which I declined and the other option was the grilled chicken with bacon bits and roasted pine nuts. He told me itâ€™s very good and light. OK, I am sold!

Whilst waiting for my food to arrive, I watched the cooks in action. Well this guy on the bar wasnâ€™t really the main cook. What he does is to plate the dishes and make it look nice. He also does the salads, delis, desserts and orders that doesnâ€™t need cooking.

It is always nice to watch people cook, bake and plate dishes. I watch 24-hour Kitchen in the weekends and sometimes at night during the week. Food makes me alive and I get inspiration from it for my home kitchen experiences.

Oh, the grilled chicken arrived! And what can I say? The waiter was totally right. Itâ€™s one heck of a grilled chicken, perhaps one of the best that I have had in such a long time. It just has the right taste and crunch. I think they fried the chicken first, just a little bit and then grilled it to finish. The bacon bits on the side kindled the flavour of the chicken to perfection. The salad greens and lemony dressing were just flawless and went well with the whole make of the dish. 4.5 stars out of 5!

I have to confess that I havenâ€™t had chicken so good as this for a long time in Europe.

I have for example stopped buying them in local rotisseries here in the Netherlands. I also rarely order them from the menu in restaurants. They just never match the grilled chicken I know back home in Cebu. Cebuâ€™s lechon manok and baboy (grilled chicken and pig) are the best in the Philippines.

At least this dinner in Debrecen helped put back my faith in eating chicken in Europe in restaurants.

As you can see, the restaurant was quite full.

All dishes go through this guy. He plates them really nicely. He also does all the desserts, salads and orders that do not need cooking.

This one is ready to go and be served to its rightful owner.

Ah, my grilled chicken dinner with bacon bits and roasted pine nuts, served with green salad topped in light lemony dressing. The whole dinner was just sooooo good. I licked everything clean.